Thursday, November 29, 2012

We have posted photos from State Champs courtesy of Graham Metcalfe. It would be impossible to improve on the quality of these photos - the crowds and barricades made this an extremely difficult event to photograph! Great job and thanks Graham!

You can always access the archive of photos and videos from past meets by selecting the "Photos and Videos" page in the shortcuts found in the right margin.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Hey Pumas! Heart&Sole gave Runner of the Week honors to everyone who finished in the top-10 among locals at State who hadn't yet received the honor thus far this season.For the Pumas, this means that Cecilia Avelar, Harrison Luft, Samantha Perry and Colin Metcalfe were among those honored!

﻿﻿﻿ Following is the meet summary for the Pumas efforts at the CIF State Championships last Saturday.

Click here to see MCHS all-time lists for CIF State Championships at Woodward Park.

Girls: Took 17th in a very competitive Division 2 field of 22 schools.Although the girls were the fastest Redwood Empire team at State and the team placed in line with pre-meet projections, the overall results fell short of what we planned for and what this team already showed it could do. The good news is that this is a very young team, and almost all of these young women will get the opportunity to learn from their experience, improve their preparation, and make the corrections which should lead to more enjoyable competitive experiences and satisfying results in the future.

Some individual highlights... a very solid 19:14 effort from senior Brynna Thigpen (2nd fastest effort by a Redwood Empire girl, 22nd fastest performance by a Puma girl at State, and 8 seconds off her PR); a sparkling 19:48 from freshman Cecilia Avelar (equivalent to about 19:00 effort at Spring Lake and 47 secs faster than when she ran this course on Oct 6 at the Clovis Invite). This makes Cecilia the 18th fastest Puma girl ever at State. And finally, a very speedy and poised 20:23 by soph Sam Perry (equivalent to about 19:35 effort at Spring Lake and 25 secs faster than at Clovis Invite). Way to go!

Our long-term program goal is to consistently finish in the top 10 teams in Division 2 at State (just as we did when we competed in Division 3). We already have the team that can accomplish this - let's believe and go get it!

The Boys took a giant step forward and exceeded expectations with their performance (pre-meet rankings/projections slotted them somewhere in the 15th -17th range). Not only did this team lower the previous Maria Carrillo team time record by 1:40, but each of the seven runners ran the fastest MCHS time for their team place.The boys were easily the fastest team from the Redwood Empire, 4th among all NCS schools, 9th among all Northern California schools (this includes NCS, Northern Section, Central Coast Section, and Sac-Joaquin Section) regardless of division, and 35th among the 114 teams in all the 5 divisions at State.

Individual Highlights: Ryan Anderson took 13th in a stellar 15:40. This is by far the best time ever run by a Puma boy at State (previous best, 16:05 by Steve Laurie in 1998). Ryan's time ties him for 11th all-time from the Redwood Empire and was 52nd among all boys in all 5 divisions this year.

A very impressive 11th place DII finish and all-time MCHS team time improvement of ~1:40 on the Woodward Park course for the Boys; this team ran great!!! ...Boys were led again by Ryan Anderson who ran 15:40 for the 5K distance; only the best performance by any other boy athlete n the Redwood Empire!

The girls 17th place team finish wasn't consistent with their amazing season performances to date, but we still had some stand-out performances on the Girls squad led by "Gram" Brynna Thigpen!

...OK, so what's next?

THIS WEEK:
Athletes will either start your 2 week break now, or some runners will be training on their own, meeting at our usual practice time through this week to prepare for the Foot Locker Western Regional on Saturday, 12/1/12 (we've already named the limited roster; please see Greg or Sheryl for details if you don't already have them!). -However and since the season is officially done, we cannot actually have organized direct coaching/practice sessions, so please consider the following as non-mandatory and only training suggestions for those wanting to "stay sharp" for the Foot Locker race training on your own:
-Mon: EZ 1 hr. run
-Tue: 3200 on the track > 2-3 miles cool-down > stretch/roll
-Wed: EZ 45 min
-Thu: EZ 20 min warm-up > 2 x 3:00 at ST pace > 1 x 600m at I pace > 5 min cool down > stretch/roll
-Fri: EZ 30 min

NEXT WEEK:
End of the MCHS XC season celebration at MCHS small gym is Saturday 12/8/12 6:00-8:30PM (including a final, final ~5 minute relay contest to determine the winner of the Crazy relays trophy between the Seniors and Juniors); see previous blog post for more information.

SOMETIME IN DECEMBER:
The Girls Team will be cooking/serving dinner to the Guys! ...Details TBD

Lastly, the coaching staff is still hoping the XC team can put together a roster for the coaches annual 3 on 3 B-ball challenge. ...Hey Jordan, how's that going? ;)

Any questions, or if you need any additional information, feel free to contact Coach Greg directly:

Outlook: both the girls and boys teams are projected to finish in the 15th-17th place range in their races. The boys are looking to improve upon their best team time at the State Meet (83:46 in 2006). Look for Ryan Anderson to challenge the best Puma boy's time at State (Steve Laurie, 16:05, 1998).

Confirming headcount and logistics for State Championships in Fresno on Friday, November 23rd

Please let me know if there are any different plans/exceptions to what I’ve outlined below! Note we’ll be using MCHS XC funds to cover Dinner on Friday + Breakfast on Saturday, so kids need to have their own lunch money for both ways!

Friday, November 16, 2012

RESULTSClick here to see live results of the NCS meet at Hayward on Saturday morning.

Also, you can receive text message updates throughout the morning by texting the phrase RTUPDATES to phone number 41411. Just reply to the same number with phrase STOP when you want to stop the updates.

DIRECTIONSFollow this link for directions to Hayward High School. Parking is very limited - try parking in the neighborhood near 5th and E St, then walking to the campus.

Timing of things
1. Make sure that you attach you timing chip to your races shoes and your number to your race singlet as soon as you get it.
2. Put your race shoes and race singlet in a place where they will keep dry until you finally put them on
3. Once done with your warm-up and once you have put on your race flats and singlet, put on your long warm-up pants and a warm jacket of long-sleeve jersey to wear to the start line - the idea is to keep warm once you have warmed up - duh.
• Shed the top last - right before grouping up in the start box.
• Alternates will be at the start line and collect the pants and long sleeve tops/jackets in a trash bag just before the start
4. Have fun!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Practice and competition plans for the next two weeks, covering NCS and State Championships! ...I know there are quite a few Parents where the NCS and State Championships post-season is a totally new experience, so please do not hesitate to contact Coach Greg (greg.fogg@comcast.net or Cell: 707-291-2967) if you have any questions about any of this activity! -Our goal is to continue working out during this time frame, but to be reasonably flexible and accommodate everyone's Holiday plans. -Please make sure to contact Coach Greg if you are going to miss any practice sessions! ...OK to do some workouts on your own if you have Holiday plans, but still need to contact Greg! Notes: 1) MCHS XC travel extends to the top 7 Varsity + the next 3 alternates (no JV)2) Only the top 3 teams in the NCS Championships will qualify for the State Championships in Fresno; both our teams are ranked 1st going into the NCS Championships, so we feel good about our chances and planning for both teams going to Fresno!3) There will be several changes in our "regular" 3:00 or 3:30 practice start times due to the Holidays as noted below: Next Week, preparing for NCS Championships = Nov 12th - 17th: Mon, Nov 12th: 8:30-9:30 AM Interval workout at Montecito ParkTue, Nov 13th: 5:00 PM Tempo workout at MCHS TrackWed, Nov 14th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice) Thu, Nov 15th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice)Fri, Nov 16th: 3:30 PM (regular time practice)Sat, Nov 17th: NCS Championships at Hayward High School leaving MCHS in two waves: -First wave = Boys leaving MCHS 7:30 AM; racing 10:40 AM-Second wave = Girls leaving MCHS 8:15 AM; racing 12:15 PM-Everyone should be back by 3:30 (may be 4:30 if we stop for lunch)NCS Championship Bulletin link:http://cifncs.org/sports/cross_country/files/CrossCountry12.pdfSun, Nov 18th: EZ 4-6 mile run on your own

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A final wrap-up with a summary of some "under the radar" accomplishments from the NBL Meet.

By running 16:17 while winning the JV race, Colin Bartlett ran the fastest JV time at NBLs when run at Spring Lake (previous best, 16:40 by Chris Bendana in 2005). Spencer Jones (16:23) and Jordan Scobey (16:24) also ran faster than the previous best.

Allie Ahern's 19:55 effort in taking the Girls JV race was also the fastest JV time on record (previous best 20:21 by Jenna Lundgren in 2007). Sam Perry ((19:56) and Abby Orgish (20:12) also finished under the previous standard.

Not surprisingly given the above, both JV teams put together the fastest JV team times ever recorded, and by very large margins.

Boys team time of 1:23:22 beat the previous best of 1:24:29 set by MCHS last year

The Girls' 1:40:45 crished their previous best of 1:44:16 set in 2009.

The JV Boys time would have placed them in a tie for 4th in the NBL Varsity race this year.

Combining SCL and NBL results, 29 boys from all schools ran 16:24 or faster - 10 of them were Pumas.

The JV Girls' time would have placed them 3rd in the NBL Varsity race this year, and 3rd among all Sonoma/Mendocino County high schools. Only Casa Grande's varsity from other schools was faster this year.

Combining the 2012 SCL and NBL Meet results, a total of 46 girls from all schools ran faster than 21 minutes at Spring Lake - 18 of the 46 were from one school: yep, MCHS! Next best was 7 by Casa Grande.

Out of 20 total girls breaking 20 minutes, 8 were Pumas

MCHS girls have won the last 10 consecutive JV titles, and a Puma girl has taken first 9 out of the last 10 years.

Kayla Hordyk was winner in 2011!

MCHS boys have won the last 9 consecutive JV titles, and a Puma boy has taken 9 out of the last 10 JV titles.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

These words came to mind as we looked at the results from yesterday's meet - that was certainly a thing of beauty. And it was truly a joy to see everyone's hard work paying off. The coaches are very proud of your efforts!

Great job everyone for setting a high standard this year and consistently working toward it as a team!

It's a good time to remember that we are not any more talented than other teams. Any sustained success we enjoy comes from consistent and focused work on improvement expended over a very long period of time.

So... here is the info everyone has been waiting for. Who gets socks? Well, lots of people, actually.

54 of our 73 runners that ran yesterday achieved lifetime PRs! The average improvement was a little over 3%- this means the typical person was dropping about 40 seconds off their previous best time - wow!

It was great to see our novice runners succesfully complete the transition from a tentative "finisher" mentality to an aggresive and confident "racer" mentality -- welcome to the sport of cross country!

A few "milestone" improvements we'll call attention to

BOYS:

COMPLETELY SKIPPING THE "19's" - Quinn Gavin and Gabe Schoenbach came into the meet with PR's in the 20's - they decided they might as well just skip the 19s and get into the 18's as soon as possible - Gabe improved 6% and ran 18:53, Quinn improved 9% and ran 18:20!

BREAKING 18: David Eik, Lucas Azcarraga, Antoine Thibault, and Ean Franceschi made big steps forward with efforts dropping them from the 18's to the 17's. 16's are just around the corner now!

BREAKING 17: Ryan Nguyen - achieves Varsity Letter!

BREAKING 16: Nick Jensen - he's a big boy now! his name goes on the board